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Friday, October 2, 2015

Duran Duran "Girls On Film" Isolated Vocals

When Duran Duran burst on the scene in 1981 they were an immediate sensation, thanks in part to the provocative video of "Girls On Film." Here's the isolated vocal track from that hit.

The vocal starts at 0:18. Here's what to listen for.

1. Simon Le Bon's lead vocal is very closely doubled, except for the answers in the choruses.

2. There's a long delayed reverb with kind of a mid-range sound that's not too pleasant sounding by itself. It works great in the track though, proving again that things that don't work soloed often fit in the mix better than things that do.

3. As with all recordings done on tape, there are a lot of noises, pops, and foot movements that you can hear. Sometimes these were cleaned up with the spot-erase feature of a tape machine, but usually they were just left in because you wouldn't notice them in the track anyway. Also notice how sibilant the vocal is, although some of that might have to do with the audio on the video rather than the original multitrack audio itself.